News

WASHINGTON – Despite widespread public opposition, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed a bill late last night that will prevent local communities across the state from providing broadband Internet services that compete with companies like Verizon.

WASHINGTON – Free Press, the national media reform group, today called on Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to veto a bill that would prevent local communities in the state from providing broadband Internet services that compete with private companies.

Washington – Free Press today joined the Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign, the Consumer Project on Technology, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, and other organizations in proposing concrete suggestions to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) draft Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultur

Washington — Today, Free Press will file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. seeking to deny the renewal of Sinclair Broadcast Groups’s television licenses in the states of North and South Carolina. Also challenged are two licenses held by Cunningham Broadcasting.

Washington - In the wake of the Federal Communications Commission’s controversial 2003 loosening of media ownership rules, and the firestorm surrounding Sinclair Broadcast Group, FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps will host a forum to hear what Minnesotans think of their media.

Washington – In an unprecedented move, media giant Pappas Telecasting, with TV and radio stations across the nation, is giving $325,000 worth of air time for GOP candidates in many of California’s closest legislative races. Pappas television stations reach over 44 million Americans nationwide; about 15% of the U.S. population.

Washington - Sinclair today responded to public opposition to their plans to air an anti-Kerry documentary days before the election by denying they ever intended to air it.

[Washington] - Free Press today issued a statement of support for Indymedia, an independent online news network with over 140 local affiliates, whose servers were seized last week in an international police operation of questionable legality. Free Press joins a growing number of prominent groups calling for a full independent investigation into the police action.

Washington – As Sinclair Broadcasting Group—the largest owner of local television stations in the U.S.—orders its nationwide affiliates to preempt regular programming to air an anti-Kerry documentary, Free Press is releasing a new report (available at www.sinclairwatch.org) that cites several Sinclair business practices that are reprehensible at best and illegal at worst.

Washington – Free Press launched a comic web-based flash animation today (www.debatingforratings.com) that underscores the media’s failings in covering the 2004 presidential election and the overall decline in quality journalism. “Media’s role in elections has been reduced to a barrage of political ads and pundits talking about polls, strategy, spin and superficialities.